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LAW MINISTRY PLANS TO RAISE THE BAR FOR FUTURE LAWYERS

Written by Zachary Tan

Set to take effect in 2023, future law graduates who wish to practise law within the jurisdiction of Singapore will find themselves facing a stricter and more rigorous Bar examination. Their six-month training contract after passing the exam has also been doubled to twelve months. Administered only once a year, the Singapore Bar Examination represented the final hurdle in an aspiring lawyer’s academic journey to becoming a fully-fledged lawyer. In 2014, Law Minister K. Shanmugan admitted that Singapore was “facing a glut of lawyers”. Different committees have been set up yearly to address the issue and discuss government intervention. On the positive side, the new system decouples the need for the completion of a practice training contract for admission to the Bar. According to the Ministry of Law, this grants law graduates the freedom to explore “different career pathways, and allows law graduates greater flexibility and choice”.